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Show THE SCHOOL BOARD. (" An attempt to draw the veil of secrecy over the proceedings of the ! school board has failed. President Earretle and two other members of the J j board, resenting what they believed to be the premature publication of a con- i- templated action, demanded star-cham- i. ber sessions, but -were outvoted. ! It is conceivable that harm might ;i ':' come as a result of premature publica- W ' 1 tion, but it cannot be questioned that Yi !' a censorship would prove immeasurably V : ! more harmful. Censorship belongs only '.. ' j' in despotic governments. There all the ';: . ! rule comes from above; it is imposed ! upon the people by a' ruling class. ' 1. Sometimes these rulers assume to gov- " . ern by the grace of God and it is ! ' : ;: only natural that they should conclude that the mass of the people are unfit to ; ? participate in the sacred mysteries of : I government. ' i 1 It should be unnecessary to point out . ' ' that under a democratic government of-.' of-.' ' ficials are responsible to the people. 1 xhev derive their authority from the people and should take the public into their confidence. i I All democratic governments are based upon public opinion. In Eussia the czar, at least theoretically., can Teir.edv anv abuse by an imperial edict. . ruder" a republican form of government r :. the chief remedy is public opinion, and J: . necessarilv this calls for publicity. ' 'i , Without publicity there would be no ' , protection against unwise or .corrupt imveriuiiciit. It so happens in the pres ent stage of human development the ' ' newspaper is piactically the only me- diuni l.y which the public can keep in formed" as to the conduct of their of- ficials, and any step taken to shut off this source of information is, generally ' speaking, a detriment to the public. If it is sometimes unwise to rush into : print with information concerning j measures v.tiiih have been merely ug- ' 1 ge;ted and iu no way acted upon, it ', would he vastly more fooli-h to conduct :, the public administration in secrecy. . That this is especially true witii regard ' t,, the rjublic schools should require no a. gumont. As a general rule the people S'.end more muney upon their public schuols than upon any other governmental govern-mental department ami they are eu-1 eu-1 titled to know jut how their money is heing spent. Moreover, the train-ii,,, train-ii,,, of the future citizen- Of a country coun-try is absolutely the im.-t important - work as-igned to any n-lminiHrativc ' hod v. an. I it would be suicidal for the - i''j!,;ic to surrender their control to a .;,,.! v.nich claimed the right to Ol,- o.ntB in secret. |